On Nias, images of the lasara, a mythical horned serpent, were emblazoned on objects to proclaim power and high status. Carved in the form of a lasara with open mouth and menacing fangs, the hilt of this sword indicates that the weapon belonged to a chief who had taken a human head. Attached to the scabbard is a bundle of talismans including small wooden ancestor figures, hornbills and reptiles, along with powerful and strange objects from the natural world.